A Motherly Love
by Genora Loe
Summary: Zuko decides to set some things right, but still captures Katara to find the Avatar. Then he gets a weird dream and changes his course, searching the one thing he and Katara have in common...
1. Girls vs Firebending

******Category: Avatar: The last airbender**

**Pairing(s): mainly Zutara, but also a little Sukka and Taang**

******Disclaimer:** The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

**AN: This is my first English story I write alone! My English isn't that good, so it's very hard for me to write into details... Feel free to correct me anytime you like! ;) Normally only the first and the third chapter will be written in Zuko's point of view, all the rest in Katara's. I think the story will take 10, maximum 20 chapters. Enjoy reading!**

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Chapter 1: Girls vs firebending

'Mom,' Zuko whined. 'Why can't I firebend as good as Azula?'

Ursa looked at her little boy. She knew he was going to ask this one day. 'Sometimes people are just more talented in something, so they learn things faster, Zuko.'

'Then why aren't I talented?' He asked pensively.

'We can't just choose ourselves. The universe made us who we are, we can't change that.' She wished Zuko would understand and an added: 'You'll be better in other things than Azula. Between you and me, I think you'll get a girl long before Azula will get a boyfriend.'

'But I don't care about girls. I care about firebending! I wished the universe picked me to be the talented one', he decided pouting.

Ursa gave her son a concerned look. 'Why would you like that, Zuko?'

'Azula is always better than me, so she pleases dad more. I bet he thinks I'm a loser', Zuko explained.

'And I bet you can get as good as her! Practice makes perfect, you know. And about dad, there are so many ways to please him. You're his son, the next Fire Lord. Never forget that! I don't think it would ever cross his mind you're a loser. Nobody should think so about you! I would never do so.'

Zuko nodded and looked at the floor. 'Thanks, mom, but you saw his smile fading away when I tried to imitate Azula. I still think he doesn't like me.'

Ursa kissed her son politely on his forehead. 'He maybe even loves you even more than I do,' she whispered. 'Now go to bed, will you?' She brushed through Zuko's hair and pushed him softly toward his room.

'Goodnight mom.'

'Goodnight Zuko.'

* * *

I sat right in my bed, covered in sweat, like usual.

'What is it?' Mai murmured.

'It's okay, I dreamed.'

'You had a nightmare again?' She asked drowsy.

'Not really. It was just a... dream. Nothing to worry about. You can go back to sleep.' I reassured her and laid down again.

As the minutes passed, I laid in my bed, my eyes watching the mild darkness of the night. As I heard Mai's breathing decreasing, I put my feet out of the bed, onto the cold floor. Without making a sound, I ran down the same way as I walked every night. Although it was dark, I knew where I was and when I had to turn left or right.

Every time I dreamed about mom, I felt that crave to visit her room and to inhale her perfume, which had never disappeared. It always felt like the room was calling me. And when I was in, I couldn't do anything else than watching the stars or the little pond with mother turtle duck guarding her babies all night long.

Today it was full moon. I wondered what was going on in the waterbending areas now. Once, mom told me waterbenders drive power from the moon, firebenders from the sun. I had already forgotten she told me so, but I dreamed it a week ago again. I didn't know where the dreams came from, what they wanted to tell me or why they made me upset, but I knew I dreamed them for a reason. I was taught there was no such thing as coincidence.

The first time I dreamed about mom, was back in Ba Sing Se, shortly after my fever. My uncle told me it was probably the result of an internal struggle between good and evil and in the end I would emerge as the person I was truly meant to be, but if you'd ask me, this struggle had lasted long enough. I chose to go home, so the struggle should have been stopped by now.

I liked all the memories of mom, but if I dreamed them for real and then woke up and reality dawned on me, I just felt so bad.

'Zuko?'

I immediately went into a fighting position as I heard someone behind me.

'I'm sorry, I didn't want to scare you. I just thought I heard something and saw you weren't there. Mai took a seat next to me.

I looked out of the window again, but now I wasn't alone with my thoughts and mom anymore, the stars seemed to shine less bright. Moms perfume was gone, and instead I got a drowsy Mai observing me.

'What are you staring at?' I asked without looking at her.

'I'm just watching my boyfriend.' It sounded a little possessive.

'You like what you see?'

Mai pulled me down while kissing my neck, cheeks, forehead, nose and eventually also my mouth. Her fingers stroke my stomach, down to my legs. I brought out a complaining groan, but she didn't pay attention to it and went on.

'Mai', I began.

She laid a finger on my mouth and started kissing my neck again.

With my mother in the back of my mind, I wasn't in the mood and I got of the bed. Mai gave me a sad look.

'I'm very sorry. This isn't the right place. I don't want to dishonour my mother.'

Mai stood up and pulled me toward the open door. 'Then let's go on somewhere else. I don't care. I want you. Tonight.'

'I'm not in the mood.' I pulled myself free again and refused to move any longer.

'So what is it this time?' she asked.

I sighed and walked back to my mother's bed. She would have to give up sometime.

'Zuko,' she complained. 'Come on, tell me, what's wrong? We're together now for months and didn't even make love one single time. Every night again you wake up because of a stupid dream and then you refuse to tell me what it was about.' Mai took a seat next on the bed again, put her arms around me and forced me to look her into her bright, golden eyes. 'You know you can tell me everything. That's what love is about. Or... don't you love me anymore?'

'Of course I still love you. It's just complicated', I murmured. 'What about you? Do you still love me?'

'I don't know, Zuko. Complicated it is', Mai whispered.

There was a long silence. Somehow I wasn't very surprised of not feeling something. No deep sadness, no heartbreak. Nothing what pointed out I had been in love with her. 'So we break up?'

'So we break up', she assented lightly.

A long silence fell. The sun came up and we still remained sitting embraced. Eventually, it was Mai who put an end to it and stood up, after kissing me for the last time. 'I'm going to do you a favour. I'll act like we never made love.'

And like that, she left me with a smile on my face.

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**AN: That was it! The first chapter! Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review! ;) Next chapter will be written in Katara's position. I hope to upload at least one chapter every week...  
If you leave a review with a question which could be interesting for everyone, I'll just answer them in the author's note... :)**

**Review response:**

**sweetpotatopumpkin: How does the story match the summary? It was okay but I just don't get what is up with the chapter. Please update the story soon and maybe then I might understand alittle more?  
**Thanks for asking! Since I will use a lot of elements of the series, I thought you might like to know when this story takes place. Also, Mai and Zuko stay together in the series, so I first wanted clarify they broke up. It will be in chapter 3 or 4 Zuko and Katara actually get together and then the summary will become clear! :)


	2. Lovely Nightmares

**AN: Chapter 2! It's a short one... Like I said before, this chapter is written in Katara's point of view. Enjoy reading! ;)**

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Chapter 2: Lovely nightmares.

'Mom? Are you there?' Katara ran into the neighbour's igloo, she had been looking for her mom for hours and finally found her.

'Katara! You shouldn't be her right now. Please, go play with your brother', Kya said anxiously.

At that point Katara saw a man, dressed in red clothes, holding her mom tightly. 'Mom? Are you alright? Who is this man?' she asked hesitatingly.

'Please, do as I just said, go play with your brother!'

'But... Sokka is chasing penguins, and daddy once said I was...'

'All right, this little family reunion has lasted long enough. You'd better go, young girl, then I'll maybe act like I didn't see you.' The man turned back to Kya. 'Now, tell me who is the last waterbender and no one will get hurt.'

Although Katara knew she couldn't stay here any longer, she didn't want to leave her mom alone with such a creepy man, so she ran forward to embrace her before leaving.

All of the sudden she got surrounded by a wave of fire, which approached toward her with great speed. She could feel its heat burning her skin and heard the creepy man repeating his question.

The fire faded out and she found herself crying in the underground prison in Ba Sing Se.

Zuko hugged her lovingly. 'Then that's something we have in common', he whispered in her hair.

Somehow those seven words made Katara calm down completely. She found herself enjoying the close hug she was in and felt very safe. 'Thanks.'

Zuko laid his head against hers, till a comforting warm, overwhelming feeling settled down in her heart, resulting in an everlasting kiss. For a moment, everything felt perfect. The world seemed full of loved, free of war, and her mom felt closer than she ever had felt before.

'I love you.'

The words made Katara's heart jump. Sokka and her grandmother used them a lot, but it didn't feel the same. She had never heard them before of someone who really, really was in love with her. Now she did, she was almost losing her self control.

Then, a wave of fire appeared again. Zuko tried to protect her with his body so the flames would hit him first, but it couldn't prevent them to reach Katara.

The last thing she saw, was Zuko's sister, surrounded by blue flames, evil laughing.

* * *

'Zuko!' I screamed.

Aang, Sokka, Suki and Toph got immediately to their feet.

'I can't feel anyone moving within a distance of half a mile. I think Katara was just dreaming about her little prince', Toph said wide grinning. Then she laid down to get back to sleep again, even if the sun was up already. I assumed she didn't knew that, since we were lying in the shadows of some giant trees.

Aang gave her a destroying look. 'I assume you mean she had a horrible nightmare?'

'Whatever', Toph answered annoyed.

'Are you alright?' Aang asked me.

'I am, don't worry about me. You were right, I did have a nightmare.'

'So, what was it about? You screamed Zuko's name', he asked curiously. 'I mean, maybe the Spirits want to tell you something.'

I thought about it for a moment. Was my dream a message from the Spirits? Then what was it trying to tell me? Azula was about to kill Zuko? Why should I care about that? In reality, nothing happened in the underground prison. Zuko had just made me believe he had changed, and then betrayed us.

'Azula was kind of... chasing me.' I answered finally.

'What does Zuko have to do with that?' Aang asked suspicious.

'He was... with her.' I hoped he wouldn't see the blush on my cheeks.

Aang couldn't resist a little, relieved smile. 'Okay then, it's alright. They won't hurt you any longer.'

'And who will take care of that? Will you, Twinkle Toes?' Toph laughed.

'Well, maybe you forgot I'm the Avatar. I can already bend air, water, earth and a bit of fire and you really don't want to see me angry when I'm in the Avatar State', Aang explained proudly.

'Actually, I would love to see you like that! I just don't think I will ever get to see it', Toph said light-hearted. 'And about you bending earth: some practice really wouldn't hurt you. At least if you're not that scared you'll fly away again. You heard Sokka yesterday: rock beats airbender!'

'Okay, maybe I can still work on my earthbending skills, but I can still fight them with water and air.' Aang crossed his arms and looked at me to let me know this was a good moment to say he was right.

'I'm sorry Aang, but I think Toph is right. Your waterbending isn't perfect yet as well. If you really want to fight someone, you should really practice more.'

For a moment, Aang watched his feet, but his disappointment didn't last very long, and soon he had a big smile on his face again. 'Well, I've got plenty of time right now. Yesterday I discovered a lake, so...'

'I'm sorry Aang, I'm actually still quite tired, but nothing is holding you from going.' I gasped exaggeratedly to show my tiredness. I laid down again, trying to resume my dream from the kiss.

'Okay, thanks for the advice, Sifu Katara', Aang said quietly.

'You're welcome.' I closed my eyes and replayed my dream over and over, enjoying the pieces Zuko took part more and more, till my fantasy took over and I fell in love with a dream.

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**AN: Thanks for reading! Next chapter Zuko will start his search for Katara. This, of course, will be written in Zuko's point of view again, and then everything should normally be written in Katara's position... I know it can be a little confusing, I apologize for that...**


	3. Visits to strangers

**AN: Chapter 3. This is little longer chapter since it probably will be the last one written in Zuko's point of view. I hope you like it! Thanks for reading so far! ;)**

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Chapter 3: Visits to strangers

'I broke up with Mai.'

I got no response, although I thought I saw a small nod.

'Please, uncle, I beg you to help me! I'm lost without you!' I shouted desperately.

'I can't help you if you won't listen anyway.' I got as answer after a long silence. It was the first thing he said to me since I betrayed Katara and the Avatar.

'But I will!' I hit the bars hard. A loud gong went through the massive stone room, making a guard coming over to look what was going on.

Uncle stood up to face me. I gasped seeing him so muscled. The last time I saw him he had the stomach of a hippo, and now he had a six pack. A miracle must have happened here.

'Zuko,' he said severely. 'I have been though everything you always reproached me on your search for the Avatar, waiting for the moment it would finally cross your mind capturing him wouldn't restore your honour, but destroy the world! I you won't end this war, this war will end you!' He pointed his index finger at me.

I didn't go against it, but bowed my head instead and waited for the end of his sermon.

'Then you set Appa free from the Dai Li captivity and release the Avatar from Admiral Zhao. You get ill from an inner struggle between good and evil and as you get better, you get captured in an underground prison with the waterbending girl, which you have quite a lot in common with, by the way. So you make me believe your inner goodness has won your inner struggle and also the waterbending girl risks it to trust you, and then BAM! Your sister comes over and we're back to the beginning!' Iroh sighed and looked tiredly at me. 'How can I still trust you now, nephew?'

It hurt a lot to hear him say such things. If I only could let him look inside my head, he would see how confused I was. He would see he could trust me completely.

'My inner struggle isn't over yet. Every night again, I dream about mom.' I was almost whispering.

'Still, nephew, I can't help you. I have other responsibilities to take care of.'

'Then who can?' I asked desperately, throwing my hands in the sky.

'Just look inside yourself, Zuko. Open your mind and you'll see.' Iroh turned his back toward me and took a seat on the ground again to indicate this conversation was over. He had never let me in the dark like he did now.

In silence, I put a cup of water and tea trays in my uncle's direction and left.

* * *

Back in the palace, I went straight to bed. I wanted to make an end to this day as fast as possible.

When I opened the door to my room, somewhere I still expected to find Mai lying in my bed already, but there was no sign of her. For the first time in months, I didn't have to share my bed anymore.

Somehow, it felt so exciting. I couldn't wait to see mom and wondered what forgotten memory I would relive tonight.

* * *

'Our children won't have grandmothers', Zuko said, watching how beautiful Katara looked with her hair down and wearing the typical red Fire Nation clothes.

'I know.' She drew random lines on Zuko's chest with her fingers and closed her eyes. She loved lying in Zuko's muscled arms while enjoying the suns heat on her naked skin.

'Wouldn't you be happier if they would?'

'Maybe,' she admitted. 'I would really like to feel the strong love of a caring mother again, yes, but my love for you is just so much stronger.' She pulled herself at the top of him and kissed him lovingly. 'And who else can say she gets an evil, mad sister in law instead?' she joked between two kisses.

All of the sudden, Azula stood in front of the kissing couple with a wide smile. She made some moves with two fingers, produced lightning, pointed at them and...

* * *

'Katara!' I screamed.

Confused I looked around. I was in my bed, happily without Mai, she wouldn't have been pleased to hear me screaming Katara's name.

Outside, the sun was up yet. I hadn't been sleeping so long in months. Still, it didn't felt good. To my big disappointed, the desire to go to my mother's room was gone.

Why did I dream about Katara? Was it because of my uncle had said we have a lot in common? Even then, there hadn't been such a thing as love between us. Not even a single spark.

I wished I had dreamed about mom like I was used to. It made her feel close to me again. The only similarity I discover between my normal dreams about mom and this one, was an evil Azula. If I dreamed this for a reason, it was clear I shouldn't hang out with her anymore.

I stepped very slowly out of my bed, sending a shiver down my spine while touching the cold floor again. I really needed a carpet.

Deeply in thoughts, a horrifying thought sneaked up to me. What if I never dreamt about mom anymore? I decided to force myself to visit her room anyway, just to make my brain think about her.

Hard breathing, I pushed the door and found Azula playing with my mother's necklaces. My mouth widened in surprise. 'What... are YOU doing here?' I eventually asked in a rage, looking around to make sure the whole room wasn't burned down by her.

Azula smiled as she saw me. 'Hey Zuzu, a good source told me you come over here a lot, so I was wondering what you do when you're here, so I came as well. Whatever you do here, at least now you have company. I hope you don't mind.'

'I don't need, nor want company of you in our mother's room, do you hear me!?'

'My little Zuzu, good-humoured as always. Mom would like us to be here together very much, don't you think so?' She threw the necklaces in a box and now gave me her full attention.

'No, I do not think so, Azula. She thought you were a monster, remember?'

Her amusing smile faded away. 'Oh, good old Zuzu, I bet if she would see us now, she would be so proud of both of us. I mean, look at us! Me so talented and surrounded by friends, and you so... untalented and alone without Mai.' Her smile widened again. 'Anyway, father asked me to attend an important council meeting, so I think we'd better go by now.'

'What?' I asked in confusion.

'Oh, he didn't invite you?' Her evil laugh echoed in my head. 'My bad. Then I'll better go alone. Father wouldn't be happy if I brought you and you interrupted him again.'

My fists were burning. Fortunately for her, Azula walked finally away so I could let off steam at something else then her face. I forced myself to calm down and took a seat in front of a picture of mom. 'I know I have made some mistakes, mom, and I know you can't be proud of me now, but I promise, I'm going to set things right.

* * *

The loud noise came immediately to me as I entered the bar. June saw me and let left her previous company to meet me. 'Hey, you didn't bring your uncle this time?'

'No. For the moment, he is kind of... in trouble.'

'Phew, his crush on me was just so creepily awkward. I'm not going to be the one to help you free him, is that is what you're here for.'

'No, I want you to search someone with your shirshu again', I explained to her.

'You've got something with his smell with you?'

'I do, but actually, it's a she I'm looking for.'

June raised her eyebrows. 'Really? I didn't expect you to be the romantic type.'

'I'm not. Just bring me to her, will you?' I said impatient.

'All right. You've got enough money with you?' she asked while walking toward the huge shirshu.

'I do, trust me. Now, here is the item with her smell.' I handled June the blue necklace, which she held in front of the beast.

'Nyla, search!' June commanded the shirshu to depart as soon as we were on top of it.

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**AN: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! From now on the chapters will be written in Katara's POV and she will FINALLY meet Zuko! ;)**


	4. Frozen Meetings

**AN: Chapter 4! I have to admit I really didn't know myself how this one would end. I hope you like it! Originally I was also not going to write little 'fighting scenes', since most of the time I have absolutely no idea how to translate all those verbs, but I tried some short parts anyway. So... Enjoy reading! ;)**

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Chapter 4: Frozen meetings

I walked along the coastline as I suddenly heard a salesman screaming behind me. 'No! My cabbages!'

I turned around to see what was going on and found a huge beast destroying the salesman's cart filled with cabbages. First I wanted to go help the poor man, but then I noticed it was heading towards... me.

I ran away as fast as I could, using the water of the sea to keep distance, but the shirshu was way too fast and approached in high speed. When it almost reached me, I noticed two people sitting at the top of it, encouraging the beast. This wasn't just a wild beast attacking me. This was a chase.

Then the shirshu lolled out. Fortunately, I could avert its attack by pulling up a wall of water. Too late I noticed a man running away, so the water threw the shirshu's tong against him, making him falling on the ground, not capable to move any longer. Good to know. Whatever that beast did with its tongue, if it would hit me, I was lost.

Then the beast really came too close, so I tried to pull water around its legs and then to freeze it, but he just broke the ice while running. Next, I wanted to splash the people who were riding the shirshu off of it with a wave of water, but the women guided the shirshu to the left, so my attack was useless.

Eventually the beast lolled out again. In a last effort to escape I tried to freeze a piece of water to stand on and then wanted to push me off, using the water, but just as I wanted to jump on my little frozen platform, the tongue hit me. I tripped and fell down hard on my face.

Unfortunately, I lay on the ground with my face in the sand, so I couldn't breathe. I heard the two people getting of the shirshu and one of them walked toward me. I wanted to scream to hurry since I was about to faint, but couldn't get my mouth open, so I just produced some weird noises in the sand.

The world was just about to blur out as someone picked me up and laid me down again a bit further from the water. As I finally could breathe regularly again, I looked up to see who this person was, and found out it was Zuko who had been chasing me. Of course.

Then the women with long, black hair in a top-knot with a skull adornment who had been guiding the shirshu, held her hand in front of Zuko without even looking at me. 'So, you've found your girl. Now I want my money.'

Zuko handed her a pouch. 'My uncle's weight, just as last time.'

'Thanks.' The women nodded satisfied. She walked back toward her shirshu and looked at us for the last time, wide grinning. 'Have fun.'

Zuko rolled his eyes and then directed his attention toward me. 'Where are your friends?'

I looked furiously at him. He had chased for me! I was not going to say a word until he promised to let me go.

Zuko watched me for a moment. 'You're not going to talk, are you?' he decided. He sighed and lay down next to me in the sand.

I was surprised by seeing him closing his eyes. He really had to trust me not to move again in the next hours to do so. I had expected him to scream at me and to force me to talk, but instead he didn't say a word himself. I had to admit his strategy was working. I was almost getting mad of the awkward silence, while he didn't seem to care.

As the time passed, I could feel my fingers and toes again. Still I didn't move and pretended like I was still paralyzed, waiting for the right moment to attack.

When I was completely sure of being capable to move again, I stretched my fingers slowly to guide the water toward Zuko, who seemed to be fast asleep. When it reached his feet, I froze it. Then I jumped to my feet and now let a whole wave of water splash on top of him. He woke up, looked around him for a moment and then looked at me without showing any emotion.

Again I expected him to scream and to fight back, but he just watched me standing in front of him, not even trying to escape the ice. For a moment, I considered running away from him, but there was no doubt he would break free and actually I also didn't know where to go or to hide.

Eventually I really couldn't stand the silence anymore and began screaming at him myself. 'Why don't you do something?'

This time it was Zuko who didn't answer and still just looked at me.

'Just. Say. What. You. Want. From. Me.' I said with restrained anger.

'I just want to know where your friends are.' Zuko eventually said.

I rolled my eyes. 'You're still trying to capture the Avatar?'

Zuko couldn't resist a little smirk. 'You're still not answering my question?'

'Yes, I guess I do.' I tried to sound uninterested, but instead it sounded a bit pathetic.

Zuko looked at me like he was trying to fathom me. 'You... don't know where they are?' he asked hesitatingly.

I shrugged my shoulders and began walking away, leaving Zuko behind me. He'd better not think I didn't know where they were going. I just didn't know where they were. Not that it bothered me. The only person I was going to miss was Sokka.

Behind me, I heard the ice breaking. 'So you really don't?'

Again, I shrugged my shoulders and walked on. Maybe he would just leave me alone, now I didn't know where he could find his Avatar. Maybe he would just go away and never come back.

'You left them?'

All of the sudden, I got furious. I didn't know where it came from, but I could feel it had been there for quite a long time already. I let out a loud scream and attacked Zuko with a wave of water again. Zuko saw it was serious this time and got in fighting position as well.

For the umpteenth time today I tried to surround Zuko with water and to freeze it, but he repelled my attack and took his dao swords. Then, in high speed, he began running toward me, dodging all my attacks. Every time again, I tried to keep him off, or just to slow him down, but he was still approaching so fast he would hit me hard.

I started running myself, at least to delay the moment he would capture me again, but it didn't last long. All of the sudden, I felt the two dao swords against my neck so I was forced to stop running away.

'Tell me where they are and I will let you go.' Zuko whispered a bit breathless in my ear.

That sounded very attractive to me. He would let me go. I would be free again for the first time in months. It didn't even cross my mind I would betray my friends, or at least Sokka.

'They're on their way back to the Northern Water Tribe to find Aang a new waterbending master.'

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**AN: Hope you liked it! I don't know yet when exactly I will explain why Katara left the gaang... But I bet you all have some ideas... ;)**


	5. Turning the Tables

**AN: I'm sorry for the quite late update... Enjoy reading! ;)**

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Chapter 5: Turning the Tables

I looked surprised as Zuko ran away from me. He promised to do so, but still I didn't expect him to keep his promise. There was something different at him than in Ba Sing Se. He didn't seem so... determined anymore. He seemed to be willing to change his course if it had to. Probably it would be as fake as the last time, but maybe there really existed a chance he had changed this time.

I sat down in the sand and sighed. What was I'm going to do now? I intended to go back home, but how did I go back to the Southern Water Tribe without Appa? And even if I got back, what would happen to me then?

'What were you thinking, Katara?' I asked myself whispering.

My thoughts went to Zuko again. What was he going to do with Aang, Toph, Suki and Sokka? Would he hurt them now I was gone? Now I betrayed them?

I sighed deeply as I realized I really had betrayed them, or at least Sokka. He didn't deserve this. Even if he had chosen Aang's side, who had played with my feelings, he was still my brother.

I moaned and stood up, still looking at the back of Zuko, who was just a little dot in the distance now. I hated dilemmas 'Come on, Katara, listen to your heart. If you don't do it for yourself, then do it for your mom. What would she want you to do now?' I whispered.

I closed my eyes and tried to empathize with her, to feel the love a mother felt for her children. I knew she would love and protect us both, just like she wanted us to protect each other.

I sighed. 'Okay then, let's see where Zuko is going.'

Following Zuko without getting caught was way more difficult than I expected it to be. He didn't stop to rest a lot, but if he did, he sat down and looked around very extensively. Especially since we were still on the coastline and there weren't a lot of places to hide. A rock or a few persons suddenly seemed a gift of the Spirits. A few times I really thought he had caught me, but then he just went on.

Then he left the coast and walked through a little village. First I thought he had noticed me this time and it was a way to escape from me, but he didn't really hurry. On the contrary, he even slowed down, so I just accepted gratefully the gift of a little bit of rest and people to hide behind.

Everything seemed to go fine, when suddenly a man jumped in front of me and prevented me to follow Zuko any longer.

'Hello young lady, why don't you take a chance and guess the location of the pebble as my friend over there shuffles it around through shells?' he asked me intrusive.

I tried to pass the man, but he kept jumping in front of me. Eventually I couldn't even see Zuko anymore. Again I thought he had maybe noticed me and wanted to get rid of me by these men. Gradually I became very angry. They saw I was hurried, so why did they thwart me? I breathed in and out, ready to explode every single moment.

As the men eventually started to pull me toward a number of people watching some rogue moving a few shells, I didn't hold it any longer. I couldn't defend myself with waterbending since I didn't want the people to recognize me, so I had to do it with words. 'Leave. Me. Alone!' I screamed.

The men began laughing, so I even got angry more. 'NOW!' I shouted.

This time the man rolled his eyes and finally let me go. I ran away, desperately searching for Zuko, but I couldn't find him. He had disappeared.

I turned around to go back to go searching at the place I had lost him and noticed someone was walking behind me too late. I still tried to avoid a collision, but I tripped and fell, so my head hit the ground hard and the world blurred out.

* * *

'Are you alright?' I heard someone asking me.

I had to blink a few times before I could see clearly again. I found myself in a small stone house with a woman sitting next to me and watching me as I woke up.

'Are you okay?' she asked again. 'I think you hit your head very hard.'

As I remembered I fell when I was looking for Zuko, I tried to sit, but my head immediately started complaining.

'If I were you, I would still lay down for a few minutes.' She smiled politely. 'I'm Jin, anyway.'

'Katara.' I murmured. 'How long have I been unconscious?'

Jin hesitated. 'Four minutes? Maybe a bit longer.'

I almost began crying. How could I find Zuko now? He had an immense advantage and in the meantime I was lying here, doing nothing. This only proved he really had noticed me. And his plan had worked perfectly. He escaped. I didn't even know where to search him now, unless...

'Can I ask you a question?'

Jin looked up. 'Of course.'

'Did you see some guy with black hair, a scar on the left side his face and dao swords on his back walking by?' I bit my lip, hoping she had seen him.

Jin blushed lightly. 'Yes, I did.'

I widened my eyes in surprise and couldn't hide my relief. 'Really? Where did he go?' I almost screamed.

'I think he went into the woods a bit further to the left.' She said still blushing.

'Thanks, did he seem... hurried? Like he had been chased or something?' I knew I wasn't quite subtle, but the girl seemed trustworthy.

As I expected, Jin looked significant at me and considered for a moment who the bad guy was in the story. 'No, he didn't.' she eventually said hesitatingly.

I sighed with relief and still lay down for a minute before trying to sit again. Fortunately my head didn't complain anymore and I could even stand up.

'Thanks for taking care of me, Jin.'

'No problem,' she said. 'You're going after the boy with the scar?'

I smiled automatically and nodded.

'Could you...' She bit her lip hesitatingly. 'Could you tell him he has lost this?' Jin held out a little strip of what looked like leather.

I doubted if I would tell her I wasn't really going to talk to Zuko so I couldn't give it to him. 'I'm sorry, I think you'd better give it to him yourself. I don't know yet if I'll find him, you know...'

'Take it anyway. It doesn't belong to me.' She smiled politely and handed me the strip of leather. 'Goodbye Katara, it was nice to meet you.' Jin waved me goodbye as I left the house.

I thought of what she had said and immediately found the little path into the woods which Zuko must have taken. I was almost happy I wasn't so close to Zuko anymore since it was impossible to follow someone without getting caught because the withered leaves on the ground made a lot of noise as I walked.

After ten minutes of walking, I got to an open spot. Where the sun reached the ground, I found Zuko's dao swords lying on the ground. I immediately ran behind a big tree so Zuko wouldn't see me if he got back.

As the time passed by, Zuko was still not back and my stomach began complaining since I hadn't eaten for a while anymore. Gradually my attention slackened and I was deeply in thoughts again while playing with Jin's strip of leather.

A few times I thought I heard something, but as I glanced around, I couldn't see anyone, so in the end I didn't even look up anymore if I thought to hear someone.

I didn't pay attention to the few snaps in the withered leaves behind me, which turned out to be a very big mistake. I was just busy yawning as someone leaned against me and whispered in my ear: 'You're looking for me?'

* * *

**AN: Thanks for reading! Whew, cliffhanger! For God's sake, who could be that mysteious whisperer? Okay, yeah... You all know, right? lol ;p**

**Review response:**

**Guest: You used the word "hardly" wrong, you should just leave it as "hard". And you  
are misspelling "sighed" wrong you add a "t" which makes the word "sighted"  
that has a totally different meaning, just take out the "t" to make it  
"sighed", there are a few more misspellings and wrong use of words here and  
there, but other than that good story.:)  
**haha, this made my day! (and my grades for English, lol) I really really want to thank you! I'll search and correct them right away! Glad you like it! :)


	6. Coming Back

******AN: Chapter 6, finally! I'm very sorry for the long wait, blame the exams! :) hope you enjoy!  
**

* * *

Chapter 6: coming back

I ran heavily panting behind another tree to rest a few seconds, but in no time he stood in front of me again. I almost wanted to surrender as I saw my time out had given him the chance to pick up his dao swords. Again I ran away as fast as I could, but still felt his sword against my cheek, leaving a small cut. It immediately started burning and I touched the cut gently to see how bad it was. As I watched my hand again, my fingers were covered in blood. 'Jerk', I whispered.

Zuko caught me and pinned me against a tree. 'What did you just say?'

'Jerk!' I screamed. I tried to escape, but every time again he pushed me back against the tree. 'Let me go!'

'I've already let you go. I'm not going to do that again if you're coming back anyway.'

'I didn't want to come back. I just had to give you this from a girl.' I held out the strip of leather.

Zuko looked at it for a moment. 'What is this?'

'I thought you would know.'

'This is just an excuse, isn't it?' Zuko looked piercingly at me.

'No! I told you already, I had to hand you that from some girl named Jin.'

For a moment, Zuko seem to doubt if he would believe me. Then he said: 'If you weren't chasing me, then why were you hiding behind a tree while you were waiting for me to come back?'

'If I was chasing you, I would have paid attention and noticed you came back, don't you think so?' I murmured. Just at that moment my stomach growled, rather loudly.

'Not if you were tired and hungry.' Zuko grinned.

I didn't know what to answer, and admitting he was right was no option, so I just tried to free myself again by pulling the sword out of the tree. Unfortunately, I didn't even succeed in that.

Zuko sighed and pulled it out in one time. 'Ok, here is the deal: or you're coming with me to search your friends, or I'll leave you here, but I warn you, I will make sure you won't follow me again.'

* * *

Why did I ever give him that strip of leather? Now I was sitting on the ground, tied to a tree with it. I had been trying to free myself for hours now, but it didn't seem like it had made any difference. I was completely lost. A beast would come and eat me, and I wouldn't even be able to defend myself.

I looked despairingly up at the moon, which shone very bright tonight. At least I would see my murderer coming.

All of the sudden, I heard a loud noise, immediately followed by someone cursing. I sighed in relief. Zuko came back for me, he realized in what kind of a poor condition he had left me. I was just about to say something ironic, when I heard another voice.

'Didn't I tell you to be quiet?' someone whispered.

I shut my mouth immediately. The voices somehow sounded familiar to me, but something told me not to make any noise.

'I'm sorry, captain, I didn't see that branch coming. It was like it came out of nowhere!' the first voice whispered again.

'Sure, now shut up.'

My heart pounded faster and faster as they came closer. Then a loud animal sound sounded through the forest, and I recognized an iguana parrot against a tree. He obviously had seen me as well, because as I looked at him, he flew away in the direction of the voices.

'So that beast can make noise and I can't?' the first voice said.

'Shut up, I think he saw someone, so be careful.'

Just then the two men step out of the shadows in the moonlight and I recognized the sinister pirate captain and his goofy lieutenant Oh. At the same time I saw them, they also noticed me and the captain grinned widely.

'Look who's here. Isn't that the little waterbending girl who stole our waterbending roll?'

Oh smiled amused. 'And even tied to a tree, with no chance of escape.'

'Where are your friends? Did they tie you to this tree?' the captain asked.

I didn't answer, but stared audaciously in his grey eyes, hopefully without showing any fear. He seemed to enjoy it and just looked back. I wasn't going to look away first, but a shadow between the trees drew my attention. In the shadows of the forest, it didn't looked very human, but the way it moved, like it was creeping up to us, convinced me that it was used to kill. So now we were all going to be eaten?

Meanwhile the pirate captain began talking again, not aware of the possible danger we were in. 'Anyway, you stole the waterbending roll. I'm willing to forgive you, if you give it back and pay me fifty gold pieces for the use of it.'

'Or else?' I asked, since I wasn't going to pay him such a sum of money.

'Or else?' he laughed. 'Well, on our way we saw some beautiful posters of you and your friends. You know what that means, right? The Fire Nation is searching for you, and the one who hands you to them, will get a huge sum of money.'

At that moment, I saw the shadow right behind the pirate captain. Very skilled, without making any noise, it crept closer to him. I was overwhelmed with a wave of relieved as I saw the mysterious shadow was the Blue Spirit, who had saved Aang before. He grabbed his dao swords on his back again and in one graceful sweep, the captain's throat was in the middle of two sharp swords.

'Let her go.' he said in a deep, controlled voice.

The captain looked at Oh, who immediately hit the Blue Spirit between his ribs. I watched powerless how he had to drop one sword and fought on with only one sword against two skilled pirates.

Then Oh grabbed his swords as well and occupied the Blue Spirit completely, so the captain could freely walk toward me and also held a sword against my throat. 'Surrender, or the girl will die.'

The Blue Spirit avoided another attack of Oh, but he kept attacking, so eventually also he was caught and he dropped his sword.

'Very good', the captain smiled.

Then the Blue Spirit twisted Oh's arm and hit the captain with a wave of fire. He picked up his dao swords and ran away into the forest. The captain and Oh quickly got to their feet again and chased the Blue Spirit, so I remained alone, still tied to my tree.

Now and then I heard someone screaming, or I got to see some light in the distance. What felt like ten minutes later, the Blue Spirit ran toward me and freed me. He gesticulated to be quiet and to follow him. I didn't know how he succeeded in running without making any noise, but I felt like every leave broke under my feet.

We ran for about five minutes, and then crept under a large bush. 'We'll spend the night here, just in case that iguana parrot is following us', he whispered.

I gasped in surprise. I knew that voice. 'Zuko? You're the Blue Spirit?'

'Aang didn't tell you?' Zuko asked while he took his mask off.

'No, I don't think so. Why did you come back?'

'Actually, I didn't. I was still there', he confessed without looking at me.

'You never left?' I asked surprised.

'Indeed', he whispered. 'Now let's sleep, tomorrow I'll continue my trip to find your friends. I suppose you're coming with me this time?' he smiled.

'I guess I am.' I smiled back.

* * *

******AN: Hope you liked it! The pirate idea was actually my friend's. Please leave a review! So from now on, Katara and Zuko will be more together to find Aang, Sokka, Suki and Toph ;) **


	7. Darknesses

**AN: Chapter 7! And again, it starts with a dream. I know, I use them a lot... Don't be scares to let me know if you hate them! Enjoy reading!**

* * *

Chapter 7: Darknesses

Two fish circled around and around. The water flowed gently along their fins. You could almost feel the balance, the gravity between the two. The longer you looked, the more they melted together. One black, one white. And when the colors eventually blended, black vanquished.

Like that, everything turned black. A whole, black world which pulled you into it. There was no chance of escape, no light at the end of the tunnel. Everything what once had been colorful and joyful, had now disappeared in the blackness of nothing. You couldn't distinguish the life of the death anymore, making it seem like it was all an illusion. A dark illusion of death in which you found yourself very lonely.

Then a small dot of light appeared in what felt like the sky. It grew bigger and bigger, till you could see very clearly it was a full moon. It was almost impossible to look at it, as it shone very bright. The light of the moon colored the blackness grey so you could see again. All the beautiful red roses, the grass and the trees were covered in a grey kind of ashes. When you tried to touch something what had remained intact, it collapsed, till there was nothing left than a new pile of ashes.

Very slowly, the moon turned blood red, and a red shadow crept over the landscape. Everything it touched suddenly looked very mean and bloodthirsty. It felt like everything had eyes, and they were all pointed at you. You could try to run away, but wherever you went, the landscape returned in an even more dangerous way.

Then the ashes also began to fall out of the sky, making it hard to breathe. Your eyes started burning and everywhere the air could touch your skin, there were immediately blisters. In the distance, a loud noise approached. The ground began shaking and you could see a wave of water approaching, as high as you could see. It approached in an unbelievable speed and destroyed everything on its way. On the other side, a bright light was visible, which turned out to be blue fire.

You had the choice: or to be burned, or to drown. It only took five seconds for the two to face each other and for the world of ashes to go down in a huge explosion.

* * *

Zuko held his hands defending in front of him as he saw I was about to attack him. Then I remembered last day and I calmed down.

'You're okay?' he asked.

'I am. Just had a weird dream.'

'Know the feeling.' Zuko murmured.

'What were you doing actually?' I asked suspicious.

Zuko looked up to the sky, one eye closed. 'Just sitting here, waiting for you to wake up.'

It took me a few seconds to realize he hadn't just been sitting there. 'You were watching me?' I crossed my arms in front of me.

'I was guarding.' Zuko said flatly. He got to his feet and walked away.

Then I noticed we weren't under the bush where I fell asleep last day anymore. 'You even moved me?' I gasped. Zuko didn't answer my question and kept walking without looking back.

I found myself imagining me sleeping in Zuko's arms like a little girl while he walked through the forest. Maybe it was a good thing he was walking away right now, so he didn't see me blushing.

'We're not going to follow the path?' I asked, getting to my feet as well.

'No, too much chance we get to meet out pirates again. We'll walk in the forest and hope there are no traps or angry beasts', Zuko answered.

I raised my eyebrows. 'So where will we go now?'

'We'll first go to Omashu and from there we will take the shortest way to the Northern Water Tribe, where we should meet your friends.'

I nodded. 'So how will we get to Omashu?' I tried to say it like I didn't care, but I didn't quite succeed. Anyhow, I had to avoid we would take the Cave of Two Lovers. Then we probably would get lost in the underground labyrinth again, and to find our way outside, we would have to show love, which wasn't exactly present right now.

'The Cave of Two Lovers should normally be under us right now, so that's no option. We'll have to take the way through the forest above it.' Zuko fortunately said.

'You've been here before?' I asked to change subject.

Zuko looked at me. 'On my search for the Avatar I've been almost everywhere, actually.'

'Oh', was the only thing could think of. 'And what you just said about knowing the feeling of dreaming weird, what did you mean by that?'

Zuko seem to hesitate. 'I already told you I…'

At that point we stepped into a pile of leaves and the ground seemed to disappear. We were falling for seconds and then hit the ground hard. I remained lying till Zuko pulled me to my feet.

'What happened?' I asked confused.

Zuko didn't answer, but lit a branch which had fallen down with us. The small flame lighted the hole we were currently in, but it couldn't reach any wall, letting it all seem endless.

'What is this hole?' I whispered, afraid every moment some angry beast would appear.

'I think,' Zuko began. 'We're in the Cave of Two Lovers.'

'No way.' I whispered. 'That can't be true. The Cave of Two Lovers must have stronger walls.'

'This could be the highest part of the cave, so it almost coincides with the surface. Or,' Zuko turned around. 'maybe we just found a secret entrance.'

I bit my lip. 'So do you think we can climb the walls or something?'

'I don't think so. We'll just have to follow the direction we were walking before.' Zuko lit another branch and gave it to me.

'Which was?'

He shrugged his shoulders. 'I think we should take that way.' Zuko pointed at the opposite direction I thought we had been walking in before. I didn't go against it and just followed Zuko, trusting his sense of direction.

We had been walking in the blackness for minutes as we finally reached a narrowing and could coordinate us according to the walls. Now and then we heard some noise and paused in case it were badgermoles. Zuko had brought a whole bush of branches, but still it wouldn't be enough. They burned very fast, so they only lasted a few minutes. Eventually we only lit one branch at a time.

'So why did you leave your friends again?' Zuko eventually broke the silence.

'I guess it was just all too much. Being with Aang and hiding for the Fire Nation. I've never chosen this life. At some point I think I just realized they needed me somewhere else, like in the Southern Water Tribe with my grandmother.'

'And your brother didn't share that opinion?' Zuko asked.

'Sokka just has to guide and guard him, you know. I also had to teach him waterbending, and seeing him getting so good in it, made me feel a bit superfluous. He needed a better waterbending master, like master Pakku', I said, convinced by myself.

'Must be hard to be separated from your brother.' Zuko said after a long silence.

I sighed. 'Indeed it is. We've been together forever till now.'

A few seconds after I said that, the ground began shaking and we got thrown against a wall. Zuko quickly lit another branch and gave it to me while he gestured to be quiet.

The ground kept shaking, till an enormous badgermole broke through the wall. The fact he didn't go on with digging frightened me. He was obviously aware of us.

Just like me, Zuko leaned against the wall without making any noise or moving. The badgermole didn't move either, like he was waiting for a confirmation of our presence. There was no doubt he would feel it if there was just the smallest movement. You could almost feel the tension in the air.

After a while, my legs started complaining, and eventually they even started trembling. Fortunately, the badgermole didn't yet seem to notice it. I turned my head very slowly at Zuko and widened my eyes to warn him. Just then my foot slipped and I fell.

Now the badgermole had surely noticed me.

* * *

**AN: A lot of Zutara in the next chapter! Hope you liked it! Please don't mind the actual geograpical location of for instance the Cave of Two Lovers, I try to let it match with the real locations as much as possible...**


	8. Gratitude

**AN: Chapter 8! It's a little longer, and contains a lot of Zutara! :) so last chapter ended with Katara falling down and the badgermole noticing her... Enjoy reading! **

* * *

Chapter 8: Gratitude

It all happened so fast. Zuko lit one of the remaining branches and threw it at the badgermole as it wanted to attack me. The beast turned his head and raised a paw to attacked Zuko. Every time again, Zuko could narrowly avoid the attacks and he had almost no time to fight back. It was obvious the beast would win if he wouldn't think of something very soon.

'Use your dao swords!' I screamed.

'It won't help. It won't get through its thick skin.' Zuko shouted back. He only looked at me for a second, but that was enough for the badgermole to throw him against the wall with its big claws.

I watched anxiously how the blood rushed out of Zuko's arms. What was even worse, was that Zuko didn't move anymore. I began to throw everything I found in my pockets to pull the Badgermole's attention, away from Zuko. As I reached the bottom of my pockets, I found myself throwing something quite small and hard. It hit the badgermole very softly and rebounded on its thick skin. When it hit the ground, I could hear a slight buzz and it sent out the brightest light I had ever seen in my entire life. Still, it didn't blind me, in contrast to the badgermole. He began to scream and jumped out of control through the cave, making big rocks fall down.

I knew I had to do something to stop the beast from jumping, or the cave would collapse, so in a sudden wave of courage I took one of Zuko's dao swords and began hitting the badgermole everywhere I could reach him. Like Zuko had said, the badgermole didn't quite seem to notice me, and he even hit me with his claw. I got thrown away and the world almost blurred out. Then the badgermole jumped right above me and I could fortunately hold up the sword just in time, so when the beast fell down, he got a sword right in his heart. He got up again very quickly and began screaming even louder. I covered my ears with my hands and remained lying till the badgermole fell on his side and still barely moved.

I got to my feet as the bright light faded and besides the flame on the branch Zuko had thrown at the badgermole to rescue me, it was completely dark. Unknowingly I pulled the sword out of the badgermole's chest and watched it lying dead.

'You just saw that? I gasped.

Zuko moaned almost inaudibly, and I remembered he got thrown against the wall again. I brought the fire closer to him, and saw the big scratches on his arms were still bleeding. No doubt he would lose consciousness if it didn't stop. I ripped off a piece of my clothes off and tied it quickly around Zuko's arms.

Meanwhile the fire on the branch was almost out. 'Can you still bend fire?' I whispered. Zuko shook his head. His forehead was covered in sweat and his breathing was raspy. I almost lost hope as I realized this was a vicious circle. We needed to get out of the cave to find water to heal Zuko, but to find a way out, we needed light, and to have light, Zuko had to bend fire, and he couldn't bend fire until he was healed. There had to be a way to break through the circle.

In complete panic, I put everything I had been throwing to the badgermole back into my pockets. Since I didn't exactly find something of use, I perched and bumped my head against the wall.

'Of course,' I whispered as the idea rushed through my brains. 'We're lost in the Cave of Two Lovers. To find our way back we just have to…' I looked at Zuko. He seemed to be tossed around between two worlds. At that point, the fire went out and everything went dark.

In the darkness, I crept closer to Zuko. He won't even notice it, I told myself and commanded me to lay my hand on his hard chest. I felt his heart beating very slowly, in contrast to mine. Very slowly, I leaned forward until I could just feel his soft lips against mine. It could have been my imagination, but I would really swear Zuko leaned forward a bit as well and kissed me back.

A stupid thought settled in my mind: this time no one says he doesn't want to kiss you if you're about to kiss each other to survive. With this thought I decided not to think much anymore, but to do.

After a few seconds I pulled myself away from Zuko and opened my eyes. A thousand shining crystals rubies were now guiding the way. My smile faded as I realized we still had another problem: how would I get Zuko out? He could carry me, he had proved that before, but me carrying him? If he could walk a bit by himself, it would be okay, but he seemed to be almost totally gone by now.

I thought of all the different carrying positions I could think of, and decided to take Zuko on my back with my hands holding his legs and his arms around my neck. To get him on my back was the hardest, but once he was, he seemed less heavy than I had expected.

I had been running through the tunnels for what felt like an hour without even stopping once as I thought to see a little dot of light in the distance. I quickened my step and screamed in relief as a minute later, I stood in the daylight again. To my surprise, we even came out at a river. I carefully lay down Zuko at the edge, pulled the water around my hands, laid them on his wounds and watched relieved how it turned blue. It oonly took me a few minutes to make the scratches look much better. Zuko still didn't wake up, so it gave me some time to wash myself and to think about everything just happened with a surprising clear mind.

I thought of the kiss, of course, of how I thought he had kissed me back, of what the differences had been between with Aang and with Zuko and of the badgermole. I had killed a beast. I had taken away the life of a living creature, maybe even a mother of baby bagermoles.

Fortunately my depressing thoughts disappeared when I remembered the bright light and the slight buzz which had turned the badgermole crazy and I searched my pocket again. There was nothing what could have been able to send out such a beam of light or any sound. There was only one remarkable thing: there was now an inscription in the strip of leather, which said 'There is light in every darkness.' I tried not to freak out as I read it. I was sure there hadn't been an inscription before, and it was too much coincidence it was about light in a darkness. I didn't even know how it came in my pockets after I had been tied to a tree with it again. Maybe Zuko had brought it with him as he had untied me.

Next to me Zuko eventually woke up. 'You really bring misfortune, isn't it?' Was the first thing he said.

I decided not to talk to Zuko about the inscription yet and just smiled. 'I guess so.'

Zuko looked around. 'You escaped the cave?'

I nodded, still smiling.

Then we both remained quiet. It seemed he was trying to remember what had happened. The fact he didn't ask how we escaped, convinced me he remembered the kiss.

'I healed your wounds', I said quietly.

Zuko looked at his arms and nodded. 'We should go.' He got up slowly and started walking towards a forest.

I put everything in my pockets once again and followed him without saying a word. We walked in silence, a little distance between us. I could catch him up if I would have wanted to, but that wasn't the case. Zuko behaved all of the sudden very aloof, it was clear we wouldn't talk about the kiss anymore.

After half an hour Zuko pointed at a small cave. 'We'll spend the night here.' He dropped his dao swords and immediately disappeared in the forest.

If he wouldn't have left his dao swords with me, I would have been sure he wasn't coming back. I supposed he was searching for some wood, but it took almost an hour for him to come back.

He dropped the gathered branches and an unfamiliar looking beast. 'We'll eat that', he said flatly.

With those words I suddenly grew very mad. 'You're not going to thank me?' I said with suppressed rage. I had saved him! I could also have left him in the cave to die. At least he could thank me.

Zuko looked confused at me. 'Thanks', he said. Then he sat down and lit the fire to prepare the beast.

'You're not used to thank people, are you, your Highness?' I murmured.

Zuko held his gaze pointed at the beast. 'You don't know me.'

'So you do know me?' I brought up against him.

'I think I do', he said calmly.

'Then prove it.'

For the first time since we escaped the cave, Zuko looked straight into my eyes. 'I'll give you an example: you lied to me you left your friends because it was all too much. Even if teaching and joining the Avatar had been really, really hard for you, still you wouldn't run away. You're not such a girl who would turn her back on people who need her. You only leave someone if that someone hurts you, now you can tell me that I'm wrong, but I won't believe you, so maybe that's a typical thing for me.' He cut the beast in two and gave me one half.

I could only stare at him and didn't take my half the beast.

Zuko sighed slightly. 'Take it and go to sleep. I'll guard tonight, you can take that as a thank you.'

'No, you can go to sleep, I'm fully awake', I said, finally accepting my part of the beast.

Zuko nodded and lay down. 'Wake me if you get sleepy.

'I will', I murmured.

* * *

**AN: that was it! no cliffhaner this time ;) hope you liked the Zutara parts and thanks for reading so far! :)**


	9. What happens in the forest

**AN: Another long chapter with a bit of Zutara (which originally wasn't planned, lol) and of course, a dream! ;) Hope you like it! Enjoy reading! **

* * *

Chapter 9: What happens in the forest...

I had guarded all night. And fell asleep.

As I woke up, Zuko was gone. He had left no message and had even taken his dao swords with him. That last thing almost convinced me he wasn't going to come back. Still I would wait. A day if it was necessary. If he wouldn't be back then, I would leave. I didn't know where to go yet, but I would only start thinking of something during the last minutes.

So I waited. Out of boredom I ate the last flesh of the beast Zuko caught yesterday and watched how it started to rain. The rain gave me the opportunity to drink and to fill my little bottle.

The tapping of the drops of rain on the leaves was almost a lullaby which sang me to sleep. I got drowsy and lay down, intended just to rest for a few minutes. Eventually those few minutes turned out to be a few hours, since I fell asleep again.

* * *

Two fish circled around. The water of the little pond seemed to scrub gently through their fins. I could almost feel the balance, the gravity between the two and got sleepy just by looking at them. Then they melted together. One was white, one black. When the colours eventually blended, white vanquished.

The white light was so bright it blinded me. Fortunately it eventually decreased and I could see mom standing a bit further, watching the ground in front of her. I was sure she was waiting for me, like I felt like I had been waiting for her. Another woman was standing next to her, dressed in the colours of the Fire Nation.

As I got closer, they both looked up at me at the same time. I didn't look very long at the smiling woman of the Fire Nation with the golden eyes, even if I knew those eyes, and I knew that face, but I looked away, to my mom. A happy feeling settled in my heart as my mother's blue eyes crossed mine. I opened my mouth to say something, but "I missed you" didn't seem enough and the woman from the Fire Nation was first anyway. 'You've been very, very brave, Katara. You can be proud of yourself.'

Then everything faded out and turned black. 'No!' I screamed. I still had to say something to my mother, or at least hear her voice. She had to answer all my questions and tell me she still loved me, and that she was proud of me. 'No!' I kept screaming, but my hoarse voice just seem to disappeared in the black world.

In the back of my mind, I knew this was all a dream. I knew I had nothing to lose in this world inside of my head. I knew my mom must be here somewhere, and I would find her.

It all turned out very easy as there appeared two shadows in the distance again. I smiled and shouted at mom I was coming for her. The next few minutes I spent running towards the two shadows, but I didn't manage to come any closer. I stopped and shouted she didn't have to worry and I wasn't going to give up on her.

Then there was a deep voice which told me to let her go. My heart almost sank, but I refused to listen and answered with a hard no. In a flash my mom and the woman stood in front of me again. 'To save those you cherish, you have to leave them behind', the woman said.

* * *

It was already noon as I woke up. 'Damned', I murmured.

'Had a bad dream again?' a familiar voice asked.

I smiled as I saw Zuko next to me, totally wet and trembling, but he didn't seem to care and stared outside. I could easily pull the water out of his clothes, but I wanted an explanation first.

'Where have you been?' I asked, ignoring his question, half because of I didn't know the answer myself.

'I've been searching for some dry wood', he said.

I looked behind me and couldn't see any wood. 'So where is it?'

Zuko looked at me. There were so many emotions in his eyes I had never seen there before. 'It rains.'

'Oh.' I cleared my throat. 'So what happened?'

'We have to go.' Zuko looked away and got up.

'What happened?' I repeated my question, not intended to move if he wouldn't tell me what the cause of all his emotions was.

'We have to go', Zuko repeated, narrowing his eyes. He wanted to walk away, but I grabbed his hand without thinking. He startled as much as I did with the sudden contact and just stared at my hand.

I ignored the beating of my heart and asked again: 'What happened, Zuko?'

Zuko pulled himself away from me. 'What do you care? You shouldn't even ask those questions, you're still my prisoner.'

At this I got angry. 'You know, you were very right about me yesterday, I didn't leave my friends because it was all too much. It is a part of my character to help wherever I can, and no, I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me.' I startled of the volume of my own voice and went on a little more quietly. 'So yes, I do care. Now I will ask you one last time: what just happened when you were gone while leaving me here alone without any sign you would come back?'

Zuko came closer to me, till he was so close I could feel the heat of his body. He leaned forward and looked deep in my eyes with a weird emotion on his face. I just wanted to ask my question one last time when he politely kissed my forehead and whispered in my ear: 'We have to go.'

Totally confused and stunned I watched Zuko walking away. I could still feel my forehead tingling where he had planted the kiss. I got up and walked right behind him.

Out of the forest, Zuko quickened his step 'till we got to the edge of a small village. An old fisherman looked up tiredly and then paid his full attention to his recently caught fish again. Zuko commanded me to sit down and wait and then put his mask of the Blue Spirit on. In less than three seconds, he was gone. I could only stare at the spot he had disappeared. His fast movements and flexibility as he ran away kept surprising me, just like the kiss.

It had already stopped raining and the sun shone through the few remaining clouds as Zuko came back. Not walking, as I had expected, but on a small boat. I bit my lip. 'You've stolen that boat?'

Zuko, without mask now, didn't answer and gestured me to go aboard. I sighed and pushed me off with the water between the boat and me.

I tried to get my heartbeat under control as I had decided to ask what had been going through my mind the whole time: why did he kiss me? Had it been out of love, desperation or what? I had to know.  
'So, er, what was that kiss for?' I asked like I didn't care.

Zuko tried not to show any emotion, but I still thought to see a small grin. 'Just to get you following me', he answered.

I didn't know whether to be happy, angry or sad with that answer and decided just to roll my eyes and change subject. It had worked anyway. 'So what happened when you were gone?' I asked again as we were already in the middle of the lake. I didn't exactly count on an answer anymore, but Zuko surprisingly replied to my question.

'When I woke up in the morning, I saw you had fallen asleep, so I stood guard myself. Then the clouds gradually turned dark, it would start to rain, so I really looked for some dry wood to spend another few hours in the cave with a fire, but as I walked through the forest, I thought I heard someone and followed the noises.' Zuko paused and sighed. 'Although I looked everywhere, I couldn't find anyone. Then it started raining and I wanted to go back, but all of the sudden I got very sleepy and fell asleep in the middle of the forest.'

I frowned as I remembered my own sleepiness when it had begun to rain. Zuko and I both had slept during the night, but also both fell asleep at the same time. I didn't believe this had been coincidence.

'As I woke up again,' Zuko went on. 'I thought I heard someone again, closer this time. I looked for the noises one more time and eventually got to see a group of people robbing an old man from the Fire Nation. I considered helping him, but saw I had no chance of conquering the numerous people, so I had to let them get away with it. I tried just to forget and thought the sooner I got away there, the better, so I left. Unfortunately it didn't take long for them to surround me and I even had to bend fire to escape, risking they would recognize me. I climbed a tree and remained sitting there 'till I was sure they were gone. Then I ran to the cave we spent the night and found you still sleeping.'

'Actually I had awoken already, I had just fallen asleep again, also when it started raining', I said. 'Do you think that was just coincidence?'

Zuko hesitated, and then just shrugged his shoulders. 'I don't know. I don't think the group of people has something to do with it. You know, maybe it sounds weird, but I think it was all the forest. It could have belonged to a Spirit who didn't want us to sleep in the cave or me to catch that beast last night, so it tried to drive us mad in revenge as we were separated or something like that.'

I nodded thoughtfully.

'Anyway, I think you might want to know we won't look for your friends anymore. My search for the Avatar has come to an end, but we'll still travel to the Northern Water Tribe. We will arrive in two days', Zuko suddenly announced.

I gasped. 'What!? Why all the sudden so fast? And why would you still go there if you're not searching for Aang anymore?'

'I told you, my search has come to an end, but I still want to figure something out.'

I couldn't follow at all. I had always thought he would turn against me or just leave me somewhere as soon as we would find Aang and then try to capture him.

After a short silence, Zuko explained: 'I think we should look for a little pond.'

* * *

**AN: Hope you liked it! :) Like I said before, the little 'kiss' wasn't planned, it just turned out that way, lol ;) I want to thank you all for the nice reviews, the favorites and follower so far! (and if you don't belong to any of them, just thanks for reading!) It makes me feel like I'm doing something a bit useful for one time in my life! lol :p  
I have three very busy weeks ahead now, and I don't think I'll find some time to write, so next update might take a little longer... **


	10. In sickness

**Chapter 10! Yay! Sorry for the long, long wait! It has been a very busy time. Let's quickly brush up: last chapter Katara dreamed about her and Zuko's mother, who told her to leave those she cherishes behind if she wants ****to save them. Zuko in the meantime got soaking wet in the forest and eventually announced he doesn't want to search for Aang no longer, but look for a little pond... Enjoy reading! :)**

* * *

Chapter 10: In sickness…

'Zuko? Are you all right?' I watched him trembling all over his body and didn't miss the unhealthy looking, pale skin.

He nodded and turned his back to me, so I would no longer ask every five minutes how he felt. Still I crept closer and laid the back of my hand on his forehead. It didn't last very long: he was so hot that I had to withdraw.

I opened my mouth to say something, like I would look for some water for him, but I thought of the silence or the argument which would follow and just stood up quietly. Fortunately the sand underneath my feet didn't make any sound and Zuko didn't notice me walking away.

I knew he was very vulnerable on the beach, but after our boat trip last day we had walked all night and still hadn't find a better shelter. I kept repeating to myself this was an abandoned place and I would be back before he or anyone else would find out, but still I hurried and ran as fast as I could.

To distract myself from the pain in my thigh, I pondered on my own explanation about the sudden change in our course again. Zuko suddenly wanted to search for a pond in the Northern Water Tribe, but didn't want to explain why or where exactly. Still, I had a strong feeling he meant the pond where Yue had er… turned into the moon. I had made up the explanation that he almost dreamed the same as me in the forest; his mother could have told Zuko to leave Aang alone and to go to the pond as some sort of relaxation technique. Only his mom would be able to get him doing that.

My distraction didn't stand very long, so I was very happy to see the reflection of the rising sun in a small river in the distance. I was completely exhausted, but laughed out loud and even began running faster, my target finally within sight.

In the back of my mind I saw Zuko sweating and trembling in the dunes, visible for every passer-by. He wouldn't give a sign of gratitude if I handed him the fresh water, let go finally explaining everything, but I knew he would be thankful deep inside. Imagining a smiling Zuko almost made me hop to the river. I had just reached it when I stopped all at once.

They were all three there, riding ostrich horses. In reflex I immediately lay down and hoped they hadn't already seen me. I knew I would even stand no chance against the three of them with Zuko by my side, let go alone.

Ty Lee shared an ostrich horse with Mai and had to cling to her if she didn't want to fall off. Azula however had the biggest ostrich horse all to herself. I was already watching them for a while when I found out they were walking towards… me. Of course.

In complete panic, I jumped into the river and was happy to see there was already a little turn in the riversides because of the streaming water. I bended the water faster and pushed it against the mud so that a part of the riverside was pulled away and left behind a hole. I pushed myself as far as I could against the mud so I wasn't visible anymore. I had become a part of the riverside. Great. Fear really could make you creative.

The water surface was just above my nose, so I could still hear and breathe without any help of waterbending. I heard the ostrich horses coming and the trio got off. They were arguing about something I couldn't quite follow.

'You said he would be here.' Definitely Azula's voice.

'Yes, the fisherman told me so.'

'Then where is he?'

'I… don't know.'

'Calm down, Azula, we'll find him. I'm sure he's somewhere around here.' That bored voice must have been Mai's.

'Where else than here can he be? He needs water, and walking on the beach would make him vulnerable, so he should be right here if your source is telling the truth. I truly hope for the both of you we'll find him before the end of the day, or…'

'But me and Mai have to share one ostrich horse! He can't hold the both of us all day long! He will slow us down!'

'That's your own fault. You sold your ostrich horse to the fisherman.'

'Yes! In exchange for information about Zuko!'

'That doesn't change the situation. You could have also just threatened him. Fear is the only reliable way in a lot of…'

Without thinking, I had opened my mouth in astonishment to hear Zuko's name. Subconsciously I had already known they were talking about him, but it hadn't been the worst of my worries for that moment. A lot of muddy water found the way into my mouth and I sneezed it all out at once, fortunately exactly during Azula's speech.

'Shh, I think I hear something.'

A long silence fell in which I hardly dare to breath.

'Are you trying to distract me? I can't hear a thing. We're just wasting our time here. Let the ostrich horses drink and then we're gone.'

'Where will we search now?' Mai asked.

'The beach will be our last chance, I guess, but it doesn't sound anything for Zuko. He always searches a good shelter. Ty Lee, can I please ask you what you're doing?'

'Just using this opportunity to get rid of all the sweat since I've been so close to Mai all night.'

'Didn't I just say…'

'It won't take long, I promise.'

Before I knew what was going on, there was a loud splash and the water pushed me against the mud once again. I took advantage of the time Ty Lee was underwater to breath one last time and then to push myself to the bottom. I swam away with the waste water Ty Lee had caused by diving. This also meant I couldn't see a thing and cut my arm by bumping against a very sharp stone. Out of pain I let go my last breath. I had to go up again.

I was happy to see I had already left the three of them far behind me, but still swam a little further before I dare to come out of the water. As I lay my hand on the riverside, I felt something cold and slippery underneath it. It turned out to be a frozen wood frog. I remembered the time me and Sokka were ill and had to suck the frog to get better. I took it with me and ran straight to where I had come from.

Even if I thought I had run the fastest I could in searching for water, it didn't took me so long to get back to Zuko. In contrast to then, now I was very happy I had left him on the beach. I was surprised how good Azula could predict the next step of her brother, even if she had totally different techniques herself. But this time she had been wrong: we did stay on the beach. Just a bit unlucky that was her second choice and she was heading towards it at the moment.

'Zuko! Wake up! You're never going to believe this!' I got no response. 'Zuko?'

You could hear his raspy breathing from far. It didn't sound very good. I lay my hand on his forehead again and my skin immediately burned. 'Ouch! How can you even still be alive at this heat?'

'I'm a firebender.' Zuko answered softly without opening his eyes.

I smiled. He spoke. 'Really? Then you'll be pleased to hear another one of your kind is coming to see you.'

Zuko turned his head towards me and opened slowly his eyes. 'What do you mean?'

' I just got to see your beloved sister. Don't worry, she didn't see me, but she is coming over here at the moment in her search for you.'

He narrowed his eyes and I could see a deep wrinkle appear on his forehead. 'Then we actually should worry. Just crazy how she always finds me.'

'She was now going to search the beach, so I think she will be here in about an hour, but maybe we should already start thinking of a way to get you moving on. And please don't say you're just fine, you can bake an egg on you. I could try to heal you, but you should first cool down a bit. In the meantime you could try sucking this frog.' I gave Zuko the frog and was surprised to have no resistance. He must really feel bad. I pulled the remaining water out of my clothes and made it rest on his face.

'It isn't worth the effort, my dear. We followed you here. Well, well, brother, I see you're hanging around with peasants now? Father will be pleased to hear that.'

I looked up in terror and saw Azula next to her ostrich horse, wide grinning.

'She's my prisoner.' Zuko said calmly with the frog still in his mouth.

'A prisoner running back to her guard? Sounds like you're treating her very well. Anyway, I'll let you go then. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, of course.' She actually smiled at that: a small, polite looking smile at the face I never thought I would ever get to see that.

'Azula…' Ty Lee began, but she immediately quit as Azula hold up her hand. She pushed me gently aside and faced Zuko. 'Father asked for you.'

That was it. Just like that, I was officially free. And according to Azula, Zuko would have to postpone his meditation trip to the Northern Water Tribe to see his father first. I had some strange feeling in my head, like there was a struggle between two thoughts to make me think them. I assumed those two were "leaving" and "staying", but I couldn't quite tell for sure.

Zuko's eyes crossed mine. He nodded slowly and then looked away. He wanted me to go. My heart kind of broke, but I decided to do listen. I didn't want to see the Firelord as well. Hadn't it been Zuko's own mom who had told me to leave those I cherish behind if I want to save them?

Zuko's trip to the pond was none of my business anyway. Maybe it was time for me to join Aang again; I was more needed there, even if I didn't want to.

I started walking away and decided to look behind me one more time. Zuko still had the frog in his mouth, although it had already thawed out long before and now struggled to get free. I smiled. Unfortunately his golden eyes didn't get to meet mine one last time.


	11. and in health

**Chapter 11! The longest one so far! The story is coming to an end… I guess it will still take three, maybe four chapters before it's over. Enjoy reading!**

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Chapter 11: …and in health

I couldn't sleep. I lay on the beach with my eyes open, staring at darkness. It would be full moon in a few days, but still I couldn't see a thing because it was very cloudy. Only the sheen of the moonlight on the ocean in the distance assured me my eyes were open and I was still lying on the beach. And I still was still not sleeping.

Every single time a strange sound drowned out the noise of the see, I cowered like little child. I wasn't used to sleeping alone, and was so scared I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown any moment if no one was coming to join me in the night. I was even so scared a tear ran down my face, or that was what I told myself. It might not have been out of fear.

I had to admit: I missed Zuko. If I knew where he was, I would immediately disappear in the darkness to steal him from his sister and her two friends. I regretted letting him go, but there was no way back. I had to focus on what I was going to do now. I had walked the whole day and had eventually reached the most northern point I could go. I only still had to cross the water to get to the Northern Water Tribe.

Because that was where I was going.

Wasn't it?

After I had left, Aang must have searched for a water master in the Northern Water Tribe to replace me with, so with a bit of help of the universe, someone over there might be able to tell me where they were now. Or maybe I would even stay there for a while, finally having some kind of a home and a bit of rest. I bet they hadn't repaired all the buildings Zhao had destroyed yet, so maybe I could help rebuilding in return for lodging.

I gawped. It was all going to be okay. If I only could sleep a bit…

A little scream escaped my throat. My hand had bumped into something hard and wet. I lay my hands on my mouth to prevent I was going to scream once again.

'Katara?' someone whispered, almost inaudibly.

Even if I had laid my hands on my mouth, I still screamed a second time. I turned myself towards the voice and glanced in the darkness. 'Who is there?' I got no answer, but noticed it was all of the sudden very, very quiet. Almost too quiet. Even the ocean seemed to keep quiet. I could almost hear my heart beating. 'I must have heard it wrong.' I whispered.

'You haven't. Please don't be scared, but…'

I was startled by the lips brushing my ear and pushes myself up to run away from whoever just whispered that in my ear. Relying on the deep voice, it was a "he". The stranger grabbed my foot as I ran away and I fell down. I held my hand out to form a whip of the water to make his hand letting me go, but we were too far on the beach so it took a while to reach the water. He was faster and threw himself on top of me with his arms around me.

'Damned, didn't I just tell you not to be scared?'

'Get off of me!' I screamed.

'Shh, Katara, it's me, Okay? Remember me? Prince from the Fire nation? The one I bet you unconditionally love, so you would never leave him with the devil himself: his sister?'

'What? Zuko? I don't recognize your voice,' I said hesitatingly.

'Oh, that's the problem. I know my voice is a bit hoarse, I screamed a lot today.'

'So it's really you?'

'It's me.'

'Then could you please get off of me?'

It remained quiet. I almost thought he wasn't going to answer anymore, when he said: 'That depends on if you'll still try to attack me and run away.'

I sighed, half relieved, half irritated. 'I promise I won't.'

'Thank you.' Zuko rolled slightly moaning off of me.

I got back on my knees and rubbed my aching shoulder. 'Are you okay? What happened?'

'Yes, just a bit stiff. I've run all night long. Mai and Ty Lee were supposed to guard me, but because of I pretended to be still ill and asleep, they didn't expect me to escape. Ty Lee just walked away to get some water and Mai had fallen asleep, so I took the opportunity to walk to Azula, where my dao swords were and ran away. I'm still going to the Northern Water Tribe, of course, so I ran to the most northern point and decided to wait patiently for the day to come to cross the water. Then I heard a scream, and the only person I expected sleeping and screaming here on the beach, was you. I must say I'm surprised. Why are you still going to the Northern Water Tribe?'

'I… don't know,' I decided to answer, 'It just felt the good thing to do.'

I couldn't quite see it, but I thought to see Zuko nodding. 'That's how I feel as well,' he said quietly.

'But why? Is it just because it feels the right thing to do?' I asked desperately.

For the second time, it remained quiet. I had lost hope on knowing the truth, but then Zuko sighed. 'It's because of I feel like this is my chance to meet my mom again. After all these years.'

I raised an eyebrow. I had thought of a lot of explanations, but hadn't count on this. 'Zuko, your mom is not going to hide in a Water Tribe. She's a woman of the Fire Nation.'

'I know. But…'

'Zuko…' I began, but I stopped as he sent out a ball of fire in the air. Because of the fire I could see the harassed expression on his face.

With clenched fists he got to his feet and began pacing up and down. 'No! I'm sure. In the forest, I dreamed about her, she didn't say anything; she just smiled at me while she was standing in front of a pond. As I woke up, I just knew she wanted me to come, and I knew where it was. I have never been so determined in my life before. And I know you'll tell me it was just a dr…'

'Zuko,' I interrupt him while I got closer, 'I understand.' I thought of my own dreams, my own feelings, my own thoughts and desires. I thought of my own mom. 'More than you'll ever know.' My hand flew to his shoulder and I squeezed softly.

And again, a silence fell. Zuko seated himself again next to me and sighed. 'Thanks,' he whispered.

I crept closer, until we sat shoulder to shoulder. 'Do you think you can tell me about your mother?'

Zuko looked surprised. 'Of course. We were very close. Since she's gone, not a single day has passed without thinking about her. The night she disappeared, she came to my bed and told me that everything she had done, had been to protect me and that no matter how things might seem to change, I could never forget who I was. Those were her last words to me. I was too drowsy to answer. Father has never told me what happened...'

Zuko told me all night long about her. To my shame, I fell asleep.

* * *

'Katara?' It was mom. I still recognized her soft voice, after all these years.

'Yes?' I answered, busy blinking. It was dark, and I couldn't see anything or anyone. It felt like my eyes were close, but the fact I could still blink, rejected that.

'Save my son, then we'll save you.' This time, it wasn't my mom speaking, but Zuko's. I recognized her voice from my last dream.

'What do you mean? How can I save him?' I asked confused.

'You'll see. Just be brave.'

The words echoed in my head, and everything got even darker than it already had been before.

* * *

As I opened my eyes, I looked in the golden eyes of the prince of the Fire Nation. I realized I was laying with my head on his lap and immediately pushed myself away, landed with my hands on a hard, wet stone and fell with my face in the sand. The blood streamed to my cheeks. 'Good morning,' I mumbled.

Zuko restrained a grin. 'Are you okay?'

I nodded slightly grumpy. 'Yes, I'm just not used to see you when I wake up. Most of the time you're chasing or you just disappeared. And that stone must have been the hard and wet thing that made me scream last night. Anyway, did I really fell asleep on you?'

Zuko avoided my stare and got to his feet. 'Yes.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'I thought I fell asleep on your shoulder.'

Zuko sighed. 'And I thought you would be more comfortable when lying on my knees.'

This time it was me who tried not to grin. 'Thanks, I slept very well, indeed.' Then I remembered our subject of last night. 'Sorry for falling asleep while you were talking about your mother.'

'It's okay. But now it's your turn to tell me something.' Zuko smiled deliberately as he saw my curious gaze and seated himself next to me again. 'Why did you leave Aang?'

I didn't know what I had to worry about the most: Zuko called Aang by his name, or my answer.

'You don't have to tell me, but I just thought…'

'It's okay,' I interrupted him, 'you told me your story, I'll tell you mine.' I watched the upcoming sun above the ocean. 'Shouldn't we find a way cross the water first?'

Zuko shook his head. 'That can wait. Azula is not that fast. You're not the only one who has been craving for answers lately.'

I breathed slowly in and out to calm down. 'The day before you and that woman found me, Aang had kissed me. Out of nothing. He just… kissed me. Just like you did in the forest, but then on the mouth.' I stopped as I saw Zuko was busy grinning. 'What is so funny about that?'

'Was it such a bad kiss you left?'

I gave him an angry look. 'No. And it's none of your business. Anyway, I was angry, but tried not to show it. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, since it was clear he was in love with me, and I was not in love with him. We didn't talk about it, and I avoided Aang as much as I could. The next evening, I went to a lake to have some privacy so I could think. I had been there for quite a long time already, when I decided to pretend like I felt the same for Aang so he knew he had someone behind him who loved him as he would fight the Fire Lord, but then I saw them. Aang and Toph were walking on the other side of the river and seated themselves opposite to me. I wanted to let them know I was there, but it seemed like the spirit of my body had flown away with the wind and I couldn't move or say anything. I just stood there, watching Aang blowing away the water so Toph could sit dryly. Then they talked. In the beginning they were laughing, but in the end the atmosphere didn't seem to be happy at all. They talked so long that my legs trembled and my feet hurt. Eventually Toph began to cry, and Aang hugged her. He hugged her, she kissed him, and he kissed her back. I was peevish and ran away after I had told Sokka I was sick of being the little help of the Avatar.'

Zuko immediately asked the question I couldn't answer myself. 'Do you regret it?'

I eventually shook my head. 'I do regret leaving Sokka behind, but somehow I still don't look forward to join them again.'

'But if you don't love him, then why are you angry about Toph kissing Aang?' Zuko asked hesitatingly.

I sighed. 'Even if I didn't love him, I was still ready to make him think I was. I thought I could maybe learn to love him. And it's also because of it feels like he has betrayed me. He kisses me first, but when it turns out I'm not as he expected, he just forgets me and goes for Toph.'

'I don't think that's how he meant it,' Zuko said quietly.

'I know. He's a really nice guy, but still I feel used,' I said, 'If you really really were in love with me, then would you be able to let me go the next day and love someone else?'

I didn't believe my own eyes, but I actually thought to see a little blush on Zuko's cheeks. 'No, but…'

I didn't got to hear his answer, since there was a little cough. We both turned our heads, and could see Azula evilly grinning. Next to her were Mai and Ty Lee. Mai looked, as usual, a bit bored and petulant. Ty Lee smiled at a point behind us. I turned my head again to see what it was, and now saw we were surrounded by three muscled men, all three bending a huge ball of water towards us.

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**Speaking about a cliffhanger, lol. I promise next chapter won't take long ;) So finally the question is answered: why did Katara leave the Gaang? You like the reason? All reviews are welcome!**


	12. Almost-murderers

**AN: chapter 12! In contrast to the last chapter, this one is a short one. I'm sorry if the actions in this one are going a bit fast, but I still wanted it to be ready before I go on holiday. I hope you still like it! :) enjoy reading!**

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Chapter 12: Almost-murderers

The three muscled men, apparently waterbenders, bended the ball of water towards us. I was too surprised to move or avoid the attack and Zuko pulled me up while taking his dao swords. The balls of water stopped at a certain distance, and they changed of form, until they had formed a circle of water, with me and Zuko being the center.

Zuko didn't hesitate and ran towards one of the men, his dao swords ready to fight. When he hit the water, he was pushed back with such a great force he fell in front of my legs. I stooped to help him getting to his feet again. Mai rolled her eyes.

'I can't believe it. You work together with waterbenders? Filthy peasants?' Zuko screamed.

I raised an eyebrow. Pardon?

'If you can, I can as well, right?' Azula smiled and walked towards us. 'You know… I wonder how precious your "prisoner" is to you.'

I wasn't aware of any danger, when all of the sudden she brought two fingers up in front of her chest, breathed in and pointed above the water; at me. I had seen this in my dream before, but to experience it in pure reality, I froze and the shivers ran down my spine as the lightning moved towards me.

Zuko jumped above me and the lightning got within an inch of hitting us. 'Are you crazy?' He screamed at her. Azula laughed out loud.

Then Zuko got to his feet and faced the three men, who were still concentrated bending the circle of water. 'You see how evil she is? Whatever she promised you, she's not going to do it.'

Azula still smiled, but tried to look sad. 'Zuzu, how heartless of you to say that. I didn't promise them anything.'

'I did,' Ty Lee said cheerfully. 'They're fighting for a date with me.'

Azula rolled her eyes.

I was still lying on the ground, my heart tightened with fear. I realized the lightning could have hit us. I realized I could have been dead. I realized my almost-murderer stood in front of me. Without thinking about it, I stood up and stole a bit of water with all my power until I got my own ball of water. I bended it towards Azula, who wasn't looking at me, and formed a deadly noose around her neck. Immediately I got her attention.

'What are you…' She stopped as I made the noose smaller. For the first time, her eyes were filled with fear, even if she tried to hide it. She brought her hand to her neck and I froze the water as she had reached the noose so her hands were captured as well. She made choking sounds. Her head turned slowly blue. She fell on her knees.

For a second, I looked at Ty Lee and Mai. A small inner smile appeared as I saw even Mai's eyes were filled with disbelief. 'Do something!' Ty Lee screamed.

One of the waterbenders let go his part of the water circle and pointed his arms to the choking Azula. 'I… I can't do anything. She's too strong,' He said, now his eyes as well with disbelief.

'Katara,' Zuko began, but I ignored him and tried to make the noose even smaller. It was just a matter of time before all of this was over. 'Karara!' He shouted again.

I looked at him. He watched his sister with terror. 'Let her go!'

'No,' a calm voice said. It didn't sound like me at all, but it didn't matter. Only Azula was on my mind. And how I wanted her to be dead.

'Zuko! Do something!' Ty Lee screamed in panic.

Azula was just going to fall forward, when two strong arms pushed me with my back on the ground. 'Let me go!' I screamed. Zuko lay above me, keeping me under control with his hands on my resisting arms and his feet on my resisting legs. His face was so close I felt his breath on my cheeks.

'What are you doing?' he asked piercingly, 'You almost killed her!'

Tears ran down my cheeks as I gave up trying to escape. 'She tried to kill us!'

'But that is just her. Look at yourself! This is not you! You shouldn't be the one to kill her.'

I blinked. Was that true?

'This only causes more problems. Father will torture you forever! Did you even think about that?'

I shook my head.

Zuko sighed. 'We'd better get up and prepare for the rage of Azula now, I gue…'

Suddenly there was a blue flash and an enormous heat almost immediately burned my skin. 'Capture them!' Azula screamed with a hoarse voice.

The waterbenders hesitatingly looked at Ty Lee, who nodded shortly. The circle of water got smaller, and Zuko and I recoiled, until we stood with our backs against each other. 'Katara,' Zuko hissed, 'now it's your time. Can't you do something?'

I bit my lip. 'I can't stand three mature waterbenders, but I'll try to make it last a little longer.'

Zuko began sending fireballs towards the water. Where the two met, the water sizzled and evaporated a bit. I hold my trembling hands in front of me and tried to concentrate, to feel the water and push it back. I had used a lot of power trying to kill Azula, but still managed to slow down the circle as it was getting closer.

'You think you can run through the water?' Zuko asked, panting for breath.

'I think I can, yes. But I'll never be able to knock-out one of them to open the circle for you as well.' And Azula will probably kill me, I thought.

'But you don't need to. Just run away.'

'What?' I asked confused. I lost my concentration and the circle came closer again.

'Listen, jump through the circle and run away as fast as you can. Find a way to cross the water and search the pond, wait there for me to join you.'

I couldn't believe my ears. 'Zuko, I'm not going to leave you with her again! And especially not now she's that mad because of me. And even if I run out of this circle they'll probably catch me as well.'

'It's our only chance. Go! Now!' Zuko shouted.

I looked at Zuko, just to make sure he wasn't kidding, and then ran away. In contrast to Zuko, I got through the water without any problem. As I looked behind me, I saw Ty Lee chasing me, but Azula called her back and she stopped. Meanwhile, Zuko was caught in a thick ball of ice. I regretted leaving him behind once again.

An enormous feeling of loneliness settled in me as I walked alone on the beach again. I was happy to see a dead tree in the distance and ran towards it. The sun wasn't up completely yet, so it was still a bit night. I could still feel the power of the almost full moon in my veins.

'Concentrate, Katara,' I whispered.

It took me exactly four seconds to make all the remaining water of the dead tree draining away. It collapsed and the pieces of wood fell in front of my feet. I dragged it towards the beach again, threw it in the ocean and jumped on top of it. I succeeded in smiling slightly as the wind brushed my face and made my hair blowing, but as soon as I thought of Azula and my own behavior of the last hour, I didn't feel happy at all. It was going to be hard to keep bending the water away the whole ocean, but I had no other idea. Eventually it wasn't me who I was worrying about at all.

It was the Prince of the Fire Nation, who was now prisoner of his angry sister.


End file.
